Archives for May 2012

Back in November, my Medifast dietitian, Jen, and my good friend, Amanda volunteered to run my first 5k with me. I was so nervous. Both Jen and Amanda are experienced runners and I had just barely graduated from training with the C25k program. But I stepped up to the challenge and finished in a respectable 35 minutes and 55 seconds.

Since that first race in November, I’ve consistently run 3-4 miles nearly every day. I even did the legendary 10-mile Broad Street Run in Philadelphia. On Saturday, I had an opportunity to pay it forward. I ran a 5k with two first-timers: my husband and a friend whom I had not seen since my high school graduation in 1995.

I had noticed more and more of my friends on Facebook taking up the C25k. After many offers and much prodding to run races with people, my friend Liz accepted the challenge. Then I somehow convinced my husband to join us. My husband finished in 29 minutes (show off!) and my friend and I came in at a respectable 35 minutes with a little bit of walking.

photos by: Jason Mallet-Prevost

I am so proud to have witnessed such a fantastic achievement in their journey to maintain good health. Christian is still on a three hot dogs a day habit but he is working toward exercising more and more. Liz is only 8 months out from quitting smoking and losing 25 pounds. I am so proud of these two and I’m honored that I was able to do this race with them.

I am just a handful of pounds away from my goal of losing 100 pounds. If someone had told me a year ago that I would not only be running races myself but running as someone else’s emotional support, I would have laughed. A lot. But if I could go back to last May and tell myself anything, it would be this:

Never doubt your ability to beat your demons and meet your goals. Put one foot in front of the other and never let go of your sight of the finish line. Even if you fall behind the pack, or you have to walk all the way, or you need to sit down and rest, or lean on some one to get you through, all that matters is that you keep trying. You can do this! Power through the emotional and physical pain and anguish. One day you will make it to the finish. Your time does not matter!

I never thought I would be, but here I am, after nearly 35 years of fighting obesity…just weeks or maybe even days away from seeing a moment I never thought I was capable of having. It was all because I kept putting one foot in front of the other. At times when I did not have the strength to run, I walked. When I no longer had the strength to walk, I stopped for a moment to rest and appreciate what was behind me. When times got really hard, I leaned on others and let them momentarily carry the weight of my burden. Just when I thought my weary soul could not go another mile, I pushed through and crested yet another hill on this journey and flew down the other side with renewed strength and confidence. All because I put one foot in front of the other.

• • •

Last week I talked about how I played with fire. I went pretty far off plan over the course of two and a half days in hopes that it would jump start some weight loss. So how did it turn out? I lost 2.5 pounds! This is HUGE for me! I’ve been seeing 0-1 pound losses for weeks. I’m sure that these next 6.5 pounds will not come easy – but they will be had.

I am still undecided about what I will do in the next few weeks if I don’t hit my goal. But its more than likely, goal or not, I will begin to transition into maintenance. This doesn’t mean my weight loss will end. In fact, the results I had in the past week demonstrate that I may even continue to lose once I begin to add more calories back into my diet. No final decisions yet – but the end of this leg of the journey is near. I’m going to take a moment to appreciate what’s behind me.

Medifast recently introduced a new customer savings program. If you use my coupon code, TURNIP56, and sign up for Medifast Advantage when you order $250+, you’ll receive 56 free Medifast Meals and free shipping! Medifast Advantage has a lot of perks, including free customizable meals and a free BlenderBottle® with minimum purchase.

For your first order of $250+, use my code, and enroll in Medifast Advantage to receive 28 free meals. Do the same on your next order and you’ll receive ANOTHER 28 free meals! This offer is only valid if you enroll in Medifast Advantage, and it’s limited to one per customer. It’s not valid with prior purchases, any other promotions or discounts, or for Medifast Ready-to-Drink Shakes. Check out Medifast’s website for complete details on program and discounts.

*FTC Disclosure: Medifast provides their products for my personal use for free. I am not paid or compensated in any other way for mentioning their products. All thoughts written here are mine. I love complaining so I would tell you if I didn’t like something in the program. Medifast products and the Medifast Program are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or illness. Any medical improvements noted while on the program are related to weight loss in general, and not to Medifast products or programs.

Righteous!

The only event that rivals date night with my sexy, mountain man husband is Girl’s Night!

This beard…I love it and hate it with such a passion.

And girl’s night with my two closest friends dressed up in 80’s gear: Perfect recipe for a ridiculously stellar night out!

Izzy insisted on getting dressed up as well and was so sad that we went out without her. She made out okay in the end though, she has lots of new play clothes and jewelry.

My girls looked amazing! Steph was classy as always with her just out of the 70’s sheath dress. Kylie went edgy with some hot pink accents and Becky looked like she just stepped off the Motley Crue tour bus. Pretty sure Tommy Lee tapped that.Oh and let’s talk about how truly amazing Becky’s outfit was. She was a (delightful!) last minute addition to the group when someone else had to cancel. She put this outfit together in under three hours! Winner of the evening in the ‘Rock Star’ category.

And Diva that I am, I modeled my outfit after my 80’s idols: Cyndi Lauper, Madonna and Jem.

We danced the night away to 80’s top fourty. I feel no shame in telling you, I spent the better of the week that followed listening to the 80’s station on XM and wondering if I could pull of leggings, knee boots and a sweater dress.

There was lots of wine and you know what wine leads to! Poor attempts at trying to take photos with your friends and LOTS of duck face.

The week started out pretty mundane. I spent the days plugging away at staying on plan and exercising like a good little weight loss soldier. I went into a shell of sorts to try and reconcile this 4 week plan with myself. Where will I be in four weeks? How can I be okay with where ever I end up in 4 weeks? I weighed the pros and cons of the choices I had in front of me when I reach that 4 week mark. And even though I am no closer to a decision than I was last week, I am closer to being in a ‘Whatever will be, will be‘ kind of place.

The scale didn’t really move at all early in the week. I was okay with that. I knew I was doing all the right things to make it move, it just wasn’t happening. But I had several very gratifying moments last week. More and more people seek me out for advice. It’s not just Medifast advice (though Medifast is obviously my preferred plan), but diet, nutrition and exercise advice on the whole. I tred very lightly when people ask me for specific advice. I am by no means an expert at any of this. I can only tell you what works for me and what I’ve learned while on Medifast. So I’m very hesitant to give actual nutritional advice. Mostly though, I try to be a source of support and a cheerleader for those around me that are tackling weight loss. Having someone on your side is almost as important as eating right and exercising. I know I’ve said it a million times, but I don’t think I could have made it as far as I have without all of you cheering me on.

Rather than getting bummed out by the lack of movement, I focused on these gratifying moments that happened this week. The moments when three different people came to me and said the advice I had given them helped them get the scale moving again. Those are quite possibly the most fulfilling messages that I get. Because these people not only had the courage to start a weight loss regimen, but they had the strength to fight through a stall and even try something outside of their comfort zone (like increasing calorie intake) and they also trust me to help them.

So that’s part of the reason I feel weird about what I’m going to tell you. Because I don’t want to hurt that trust that people have in me and the choices I make. In short, I went AWOL. And not my usual little nibble of something. I went running-through-the-streets-naked-while-smearing-ice-cream-on-myself-AWOL.

And I did it on purpose.

All last week as I went around and around over whether I should call it a day, several people encouraged me to just take a break for a few days. In theory, when I get back on plan it will jump start my weight loss again. I’ve never really subscribed to this theory. I always felt like going on a binge (for lack of a better word) was a gateway to something really bad. I was worried that for me, a slip up like that would spiral out of control.

After a lot of thought, I decided to play with fire. I attended the blogging conference Bloggy Boot Camp over the weekend. I knew there would be goodies. Lots and lots of goodies. I exaggerated a little when I talk about going AWOL. I didn’t go to extreme lengths to undo my progress or cause myself to spiral out of control. Basically though, I turned my dieting brain off. I made a deal with myself that I could dabble within reason but I had to make reasonable choices in exchange. I wasn’t going to go insane and eat burgers and fries and run out for some late night ice cream. And I was not allowed to regret my choices – good or bad. I had to own my choices and just move on to the next moment. (Do you have any idea how hard it is to deny yourself the feeling of regret?)

I stalked that veggie tray at the GLO Party like a rabbit that hasn’t seen a carrot in months. I limited my drinks (despite multiple offers of more drink tickets). I drank A LOT of water. And even though I stayed up until well after midnight on Friday, I got up with friend and fellow blogger, Jo-Lynne, for a 3 mile run through the city at 615am.

hehe. Okay, in all fairness, I’m crazy for running. I should have been sleeping too. Sleep is good for your health and helps weight loss too!

Steph and I hit up Cosi on our way to the conference.

We don’t really have Cosi in Delaware – I think there are two? But I wish there were more! I LOVE that they list calorie counts for every single item in the store.

I was able to have a tasty coffee treat without going nuts. I think my order came out to under 50 calories. Sweet!

Then I had a Medifast bar for breakfast – which someone caught on camera.

That’s me in the background nibbling on a Medifast S’mores bar.

At lunch, we were served King’s Hawaiian BBQ sliders and Chicken sliders. I went halvsies on each sandwich with the woman in the red blouse in the photo above (who are you? haha I want to link to you!). I sampled each sandwich with the bread and then scraped out the insides and ate them bread-free. (I REALLY wanted that bread! Its so good!)

After the conference was over there was a wine tasting party with Mirassou wines. Have I told y’all about my obsession with Moscato? Yeah…well…ahem. I had two reasonably-sized samples.

But again, I stuck with veggies thanks to the healthy option of the portobello kabobs that were laid out for us. The light fare left me pretty hungry by the time I got home that night so I started to reel it in with a small salad. On Sunday morning it was tempting to partake in the bagels and cream cheese that my husband and daughter were eating but I decided it was time to start reeling it back in. I’d had my fun and hoped it would serve the intended purpose. I had also hoped it had not done much damage. I had a Medifast shake and a single bite of my daughter’s bagel. Later in the day we shared a small ice cream and by the evening I was back on track.

So what’s the damage? Well, it’s the best and worst thing that could happen. I maintained.

You must be thinking I am crazy for calling that the worst thing ever. Here’s the thing: Old me would have taken that as a sign to keep eating that way. ‘Look at all the crap I ate and it didn’t do any damage!’ Thankfully I know better now. I just count myself as lucky and pray it doesn’t show up later this week.

As of Tuesday morning, I’m down a half pound. Monday was a rough day with getting back on track but I pushed through it. I can see how I could easily backslide if I don’t eat with purpose and awareness of the benefits and/or consequences. I’m glad I took a little vacation and feel rejuvenated and excited to be back on track. I may not make it to my goal in the four week timeline – I’ll do my best to get there – but whatever will be will be. As so many people have told me over and over, ninety pounds is an amazing accomplishment. There will be no regrets.

Medifast recently introduced a new customer savings program. If you use my coupon code, TURNIP56, and sign up for Medifast Advantage when you order $250+, you’ll receive 56 free Medifast Meals and free shipping! Medifast Advantage has a lot of perks, including free customizable meals and a free BlenderBottle® with minimum purchase.

For your first order of $250+, use my code, and enroll in Medifast Advantage to receive 28 free meals. Do the same on your next order and you’ll receive ANOTHER 28 free meals! This offer is only valid if you enroll in Medifast Advantage, and it’s limited to one per customer. It’s not valid with prior purchases, any other promotions or discounts, or for Medifast Ready-to-Drink Shakes. Check out Medifast’s website for complete details on program and discounts.

*FTC Disclosure: Medifast provides their products for my personal use for free. I am not paid or compensated in any other way for mentioning their products. All thoughts written here are mine. I love complaining so I would tell you if I didn’t like something in the program. Medifast products and the Medifast Program are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or illness. Any medical improvements noted while on the program are related to weight loss in general, and not to Medifast products or programs.

2009

2011

2012

::whimper::

This post may not be interesting to everyone but stick with me. For those that don’t blog you may be all ‘What the crap is she going on about?’. For those that do blog, you are either thinking ‘Wow, she is way over-thinking this’ (and you’d be right) or you completely identify with me.

I want to talk about money. Money is awesome. I like money. I need money. I’m not above busting my butt to make money. It’s also something that I don’t have a lot of. (Join the club, right?)

As a result, I’ve been dabbling a little here and there at monetizing this site. I’ve always been hesitant to do this for several reasons:

I don’t want it (money) to be my driving force in the upkeep of this blog. While I have sponsored posts, I don’t want anything on my blog to feel manufactured. Even the posts I write in exchange for goods or payment are honest and from the heart. The products and services I talk about are because I really like the stuff. I’d probably talk about them anyway.

Frankly, I didn’t have the traffic in the past to make it worthwhile for anyone.

I was a little, tiny frog inside a gigantic, huge, enormous pond. I still am. But I think I finally found a little piece of lilly pad of my own. Want to come over and have a fly sandwich? (That’s all to say that I’ve had a noticeable and delightful upswing in traffic.)

I’m not always good about being consistent in posting.

But that’s because I like quality over quantity. I have lots of random in my head that could surely fill up the days. But do you really want to know how much I think about OctoMom and other low-level celebrities and how I’d like to fuse them all together into a D-list human centipede?

Maybe I’ll start Tuna Tuesdays and show you random photos of my stupid dog….actually….hmmm….that’s actually not a bad idea.

I didn’t want to have to deal with figuring out and paying taxes on my blog. I can barely handle the anxiety that comes from our basic tax return. Lots of people make money from their blogs and never pay taxes. I won’t be one of those people. My parent’s were audited once. One word: EEK!

I was unsure of my niche. I still don’t know what it is. Weight loss? Humor?In the end I think my niche is most easily categorized as a “Holy shit, what a hot mess of random” kind of blog. Yay! Diversity!

There are other reasons that I just can’t remember what they were. Besides, lists work best in odd numbers, so I’ll leave it at five reasons for now. I don’t have any hard and fast rules about this blog other than to be true to myself and hope that people enjoy what I’m putting out there. Hopefully opening my blog up to advertisements will not detract from that experience.

In short long, I’m gonna try to make it rain up in here. Even if its only pennies. But I spend too much time here to not give some of it back to my family in the form of college fund contributions and paying some bills.

Sooooo…if you’d be interested in advertising on my blog over there in that nifty sidebar on the right, you can check out my rates here. To kick things off, I am offering a special: Buy ad space for the month of June and get the remainder of May for free (use the code: MAYDAY).

Okay, first of all, any shop that names itself ‘Gummy Lump’ gets a thumbs up from me. It sounds like a disgusting candy that your kid has half way chewed up and spit out just to chew on it some more later.

And, well…that’s sort of what it is. I was delighted to learn that Gummy Lump got their name from one of my favorite books – All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things by Robert Fulghum. You can check out the full story here.

I don’t get a lot of chances to go shopping without Izzy, so I do a lot of ordering online if I want to surprise her. Sure it’s fun to take her out to the store to pick out toys once in a while. But I am a complete sucker and we always end up spending way too much money. Normally I order from Amazon – but again – I start looking at a bunch of other stuff I probably don’t need…like 4 gallons of Torani sugar free hazelnut syrup. (totally true.)

I recently had an opportunity to shop with Gummy Lump and let me tell ya, this site is awesome! I really don’t think I’ll ever go back to Amazon for toys. Gummy Lump has such a huge variety of learning toys, if you can’t find it on their site, I bet they don’t even make it. I’m especially a fan of wooden toys, so the Melissa & Doug section of their site made me do a little back flip. (just a little one. I’m not very limber…and it was more like a flop.) The best part, they are one of the least expensive retailers of M&D. Oooo happy day!

Lately Izzy loves being in the kitchen with me. She likes to mix up ingredients while I make dinner. We even moved her Dora the Explorer kitchen into the dining area so that she could cook along with me. But lately I’ve been throwing out all of her pretend kitchen items. They are just getting destroyed by heavy use and none of them were very sturdy to begin with. Also, since we are getting healthy in this house, I’ve been teaching Izzy a lot about healthy foods. So I decided to buy her the Melissa & Doug Four Food Groups play food set as well as the Chef Role play costume. She’s my lil’ Gordon Ramsey, bossing me around in the kitchen 😉

First of all, shipping from Gummy Lump is lightening fast. When I order stuff online I rarely expect to get it in a timely manner – even when I select quick shipping. I had barely clicked the order button before this stuff was on my doorstep.

Izzy has lots of play costumes, the girl is a regular actress with her wardrobe changes. Most of the items are thin and not well made despite the high cost. And her little princess dresses usually don’t come with a lot of accessories. However, this costume is a completely different story! It’s so well made! Thick, high quality fabric, careful stitching, and velcro buttons for chubby hands that struggle with buttons.

It also comes with a bunch of stuff! Measuring spoons on a loop, just like the one’s in mommy’s kitchen, wooden utensils, the awesome hat that I may or may not steal from her (it adjustable!) and a cute little name tag so that no one mistakes who is the head chef and who is the assistant (I’ve been demoted). I love the Melissa & Doug Four Food groups play set. The toys are fantastic quality and because they are wooden, I know they will probably last through the next kid that joins us in the kitchen.

I’m excited to tell you that I am giving away one Chef’s costume to a lucky reader. You can enter below by telling me what foods you love to cook with your child in the kitchen. You can round out this prize by checking out the awesome sale that Gummy Lump has going on. If you buy three food play sets, you can get a fourth set free!

Disclaimer: Gummy Lump provided these products to me, free of charge, for the purpose of this review. All opinions are 100% honest and mine. Please be aware that this is a Continental US giveaway only and there is only one (1) win per household per campaign is allowed. Prizes will be furnished by Gummy Lump not by www.TheTurnipFarmer.com.

I’ve been sort of struggling with a big decision. If you’ve followed me from the beginning – or even half way – you know that I’ve always been a ‘slow loser’. This hasn’t made this journey easy for me at all. I have to bust my ass for every pound while watching others just melt away with little effort. I was willing to accept it as long as I was losing. A lifetime of obesity doesn’t resolve itself overnight. But the more this drags out, the more I have to consider how far I am going to take this.

My goal/hope was always to lose 100 pounds. That would put me on the high end of the ‘ideal’ weight for my height. As I inch closer to my goal, the scale is, of course, creeping. This is expected for anyone, but for me, considering the way I lose so slowly, its increasingly frustrating. So I am beginning to wonder if I should call an end to the weight loss journey and go into transition and then maintenance.

This is an incredibly hard decision for me. All of my life, it’s been rare for me to follow through on goals. I rarely excel at anything – and up until now, weight loss never even made the list of things I marginally excelled at. So I have a lot of disappointment in myself that I am even considering this. I worry that I will feel unfulfilled in this choice and have nothing but anger, regret and disappointment in myself if I stop before I hit 100 pounds.

On the other hand, maybe my body is just done and doesn’t want to lose anymore. Even though I still have a significant amount of belly fat, almost every day I have people tell me ‘You don’t look like you have anything left to lose.’ I smile politely and think about my measurements (below) and disagree in my head while thanking them for the compliment. Then I wonder how much of the bulk that is left is just sagging skin. And how much of that accounts for the ‘extra’ weight? My arms and thighs have barely changed since November.

Nov. 14, 2011

May 14, 2012

Thighs

24″

22″

Arms

13″

12″

Sigh. Not much happening there. I mean really, I should show y’all what it looks like when I ‘tuck’ the skin up. I really do wonder how much those bat wings weigh.

Back to the issue at hand. To call it a day or not.

I’m nervous to go into maintenance but more than anything, scared that I will feel as though I have failed at this. Because right now as I consider my options, despite all the huge changes I’ve made in my life, I feel like a failure at the idea of not hitting 100lbs. But I want to do what is best for my health. Do I continue to push and push and possibly force my body to do something it simply shouldn’t be doing? Or do I forge ahead and meet this goal come hell or high water?

This shouldn’t be so gut-wrenching. I’ve lost 90 pounds to date. NINETY! I run, like, a lot of miles. I make healthy choices that encompass every aspect of my life from food to environment to mental state. I’m doing all the right things despite my urges to just hang out on the couch.

So why is this 100 pound goal so important to me when I’ve accomplished so much already?

Because it means freedom. It means breaking away from who I was, or rather the person I’ve pigeon-holed myself into being for so many years. The person that doesn’t follow through, the person that doesn’t make or reach goals, the person who doubts herself, her talents and doesn’t allow herself to live life to the fullest.

I am better than what I’ve allowed myself to be. I am bigger than my past, brighter than my present. And the future it’s unlimited – if I work harder, if I push, and if I let myself attempt something greater than the limitations I set for myself.

I’m not ready to make a concrete and final decision on when to end this journey. For now I am setting a goal of four weeks. Four weeks from today, if I have not yet met my goal of 100 pounds, I will make a final decision. Today I’m going to continue to challenge myself. Right now, ten pounds in a month seems just as possible as it does impossible. But life is full of infinite possibilities. I will no longer deny myself opportunity because of a little fear and doubt.

Medifast recently introduced a new customer savings program. If you use my coupon code, TURNIP56, and sign up for Medifast Advantage when you order $250+, you’ll receive 56 free Medifast Meals and free shipping! Medifast Advantage has a lot of perks, including free customizable meals and a free BlenderBottle® with minimum purchase.

For your first order of $250+, use my code, and enroll in Medifast Advantage to receive 28 free meals. Do the same on your next order and you’ll receive ANOTHER 28 free meals! This offer is only valid if you enroll in Medifast Advantage, and it’s limited to one per customer. It’s not valid with prior purchases, any other promotions or discounts, or for Medifast Ready-to-Drink Shakes. Check out Medifast’s website for complete details on program and discounts.

*FTC Disclosure: Medifast provides their products for my personal use for free. I am not paid or compensated in any other way for mentioning their products. All thoughts written here are mine. I love complaining so I would tell you if I didn’t like something in the program. Medifast products and the Medifast Program are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or illness. Any medical improvements noted while on the program are related to weight loss in general, and not to Medifast products or programs.

I’m always searching for ways to improve what we eat here at home. A lot of people have the misconception that healthy eating is just a lot of boring salads and weird foods that you can’t buy in a normal grocery store. Well, that is certainly not the case in this house! I keep it interesting by trying all sorts of new recipes. But one thing my husband and I both miss is the occasional fried foods. We do our best to avoid deep-fried foods. Deep-frying can double or triple the number of calories and/or fat in its baked equivalent. And did you know that eating deep-fried foods significantly increases your chances of developing certain cancers? EEK! In light of that information, we’ve swapped out my husband beloved mini deep-fryer with the new T-fal ActiFry.

So I know what you might be thinking: “Frying is frying. How much healthier can the Actifry be?”. Well how does one billion percent healthier sound? I KNOW RIGHT? THAT’S AWESOME.

Okay, that’s not a real statistic but what I do know is if I were to make french fries in a traditional mini deep-fryer, I’d be using anywhere from 4-6 cups of oil to submerge the food. In the Actifry, all I need is one of these:

That’s one tablespoon of oil needed to make 4 servings of french fries. If you were to eat a large french fry from McDonalds (and we know you are getting the large), you’d be consuming 25 grams of fat. The recommended daily average fat intake, based on a 2,000 calorie diet is 44-78 grams a day. If you are shooting for the low end of that spectrum, you’ve practically blown it for the rest of the day! But if you were to slice your own potatoes and cook them up with the Actifry, you’d only be consuming about 3 grams of fat!

If you can trim the fat on a treat like french fries, imagine what else you can do! The Actifry is incredibly versatile. We’ve made stir-fry, Sesame beef and brocolli (with egg rolls, all in the Actifry!), meatballs, garlic parmesan green beans, and I made some apple cinnamon wedges for Christian and Izzy that would also have been amazing in a pie.

The Actifry uses pulsating heat technology – which, honestly I have no idea what that is. But what I do know is that I don’t need to buy oil by the gallon to use it and even better, there is no crazy splatter (in fact, there is no splatter at all!). All I have to do is insert the ingredients into the non-stick pan, add the oil, close the transparent, steam-free lid, set timer, hit the on button and walk away. The Actifry does all the work for me with it automatic stirring paddle. Izzy got a huge kick out of watching the food spin around and around inside and waiting for the beep. And just so you don’t feel like you are missing out on the decadent deep-fried experience, the ActiFry still puts off that yummy deep-frying smell…except you won’t be smelling it in your kitchen curtains a week later like you would with a traditional deep-fryer.

The thing I love most about the ActiFry is the easy clean up. Every part (excluding the base) is dishwasher safe. Everything from the spoon to the lid easily comes off and can be thrown into the dishwasher.

I’ve cleaned up my husband’s deep-fryer on many, many, many occasions and I always have to pre-clean it before putting the few parts that fit into the dishwasher. There is no pre-cleaning with the Actifry and every part fit neatly into the dishwasher with room to spare.

So are you ready for a little lightly fried awesome?

I’m giving away one Actifry, valued at over $200! So if you forgot to get your momma a gift for Mother’s day, step right up!

We’ve all seen the Time cover by now. The one that asks if we are ‘Mom Enough’ to tackle the challenges of the Attachment Parenting lifestyle and all that comes with it…like breastfeeding 15 year olds. (I kid, I kid.)

While I am sure the intent of the subjects of the photograph, Jamie Grumet and her son, was to raise awareness and gain acceptance of their lifestyle, it seems to be falling flat among many moms. This includes myself. I feel this cover adds fuel to the mommy wars, feeds into the feelings of inadequacy that so many mothers quietly fret over on a daily basis.

I co-slept. I made my own baby food…sometimes. I couldn’t breastfeed. I didn’t cloth diaper (nor did I have the desire to). I wore my baby – until my back started to hurt. In the AP community, I would not be considered ‘Mom Enough’ and that’s okay. I don’t need to be ‘mom enough’ to them. I need to be ‘mom enough’ to her. The blue-eyed beauty that wakes every morning with a smile to say ‘I dreamed about you last night, mommy.’

I decided to make a list of reasons why I am ‘Mom Enough’. Don’t be mad or disgusted at Jamie Grumet and her choice (and right) to raise her family as she wishes. Instead, be proud of the choices you’ve made – the ones that are best for your family.

Tell me how you are ‘Mom Enough’ to your kids, link up your photos below!

Grab a button and link up below to join the movement in being proud of your parenting choices!